In a bowl tear the bread into small pieces, then add 3/4 c of marinara sauce and stir. Let it sit for a few minutes to let the bread soften. Add sausage, beef, 1/4 c of fresh basil and the Parmesan cheese. Using your hands mix well and then form eight meatballs. In a large saucepan or skillet heat the remaining marinara sauce until it reaches a simmer. Add the meatballs to the sauce and cook, covered, turning frequently until the meatballs are cooked all the way through, about twenty-five minutes.

Cut four-five inch sections of baguette and split them in half lengthwise. Pull out some of the bread or flatten it with your fingertips. Place the bottom of each baguette onto a baking sheet and spoon a tablespoon of marinara onto piece. Slice meatballs in half and place two on top of the sauce, overlapping them slightly. Top with another tablespoon of sauce and a handful of mozzarella cheese. Broil just until the cheese melts, about two to three minutes. Sprinkle with fresh basil and serve.

Notes: This was the night I decided to make something that I really like and to hell with everybody else. People might speak with nostalgic pleasure of the chicken casseroles or pork shnitzels of their childhood but for me there is nothing so comforting as a good sub. Which is weird because I grew up in DC; a city not exactly known for its sandwich culture but there it is.

Steve had one the size of a slider and looked like he would rather be eating a nice salad; Patrick thought there were just too many possibly suspicious things going on here and ate the corner of the bread and Edward's throat hurt so he had yogurt. Caroline took one look at my plate, said "WHOW" and she and I ate meatballs and cheese and bread until we both had to be hosed down.

"Mmmmmmmmm," said Caroline.

For reference I browned the leftover sausage and ground beef (I bought a pound of each) and froze them in separate ziploc bags for some unspecified, probably soupy, future use. I also had four meatballs and some sauce left over so I froze those together as well. You can use purchased marinara for this recipe but if you do I would heat the sauce with some fresh basil just to give it a little more flavor. And now I will put up my fast and adequate marinara recipe because I am a dummy dope and did not think to do so first so I could link to it like I planned.

I love sandwiches of every shape and size. We're having BLTs and homemade french fries for dinner tonight, even. My husband is always making fun of how I can never eat a sandwich in a restaurant without taking it apart and rebuilding it so to make sure that every bite will be good.

I've been using pre-made frozen meatballs for my subs, but this looks easy enough that I will try it the next time I make them.

And I am totally going to try the muffin tin idea. I love individual portions from the freezer!

I made this for dinner tonight! There are only 2 of us, so I can get away with making less; only I don't because I love to have stuff to freeze!

I made the marinara first, which turned out lovely. The only problems were that I forgot to add the garlic early on and had to add it during the simmer phase, which is not as tasty; I also used 2 cans of diced tomatoes rather than crushed. I did use a potato smasher to try and break it up a bit, but the resulting sauce was a bit chunkier and less gooey than I would have liked for the subs.

I also made meatballs of half the size you recommended, and then still cut them in half as they cooked faster that way and fit into the French baguette better. As it was, I found it quite a squeeze, and only fit 2 of my smaller meatballs into the baguette. But since the meat I bought came in giant packages weighed in kilos that I then transferred via Google into pounds and then just eyeballed the meat, perhaps I ended up with the same size meatballs anyways.

Thanks for the recipe! My dude and I really liked the subs...They are spicy and yummy... and it makes me happy I have 2x 5 meatballs in the freezer for the next meatball sub dinner or marinara-puck-and-meatball spaghetti.

Since I dont eat meat the original recipe wouldnt work but love me a good Sub. Soooo, I grilled two Morningstar Italian Sausage in a pan until nice and yummy brown. Then followed the rest of the recipe and of so delish.